With little discussion, the Cobb school board adopted a $1.17 billion fiscal year 2020 budget Thursday night.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, will include pay raises for most non-temporary employees ranging between 8 and 12.6 percent. They include teachers, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, counselors and nurses.
The only change to the budget, presented at a board work session Thursday afternoon, is spending an additional $340,000 in “academic supplements” for elementary school teachers. The stipends will go to those teachers who will serve in grade-level leadership positions at their respective schools.
The budget adopted by the board maintains the current millage rate of 18.9 mills. The pay raises will total around $74 million, and more than $18 million is being transferred from reserves.
Teacher allotments will increase by 90 across the district, and members of the CCDS’ police department also will get a “competitive salary adjustment.”
A total of $81 million in increased revenues, including $43 million in state Quality Basic Education funding as well as $30 million in additional property taxes due to an estimated 5.5 percent growth in the Cobb tax digest, has been worked into the budget proposal.
Brad Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer, said the final tax digest number will be determined in June.
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Due to graduation ceremonies next week, the Cobb school board has moved up its May meeting by a week, and is scheduled to act on the fiscal year 2020 budget on Thursday.
Charisse Davis
There will be a work session starting at 2:30 p.m., a public hearing on the budget at 6:30 p.m. and a regular meeting starting at 7 p.m., in which the board is expected to vote on the budget.
The meetings will take place in the board room at the Cobb County School District Central office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
He said the proposed raises were made possible by $3,000 raises for teachers that were included in the state education budget. The fiscal year 2020 budget begins on July 1.
Details of the budget proposal can be found in several ways:
Earlier this month the school board held a retreat and spurned a proposal by board member Charisse Davis to create a special committee to examine possible changes to the Cobb schools property tax exemption for seniors.
Cobb is only one of two school districts in the metro Atlanta area to offer the exemption to homeowners 62 and older without any qualifications (such as income levels). School district officials estimate the exemption will amount to nearly $112 million this year.
Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, pointed to a recent vote in Forsyth County to eliminate a senior tax exemption for homeowners who have students living with them but who are not legal guardians. Forsyth schools will gain an additional $500,000 in annual revenue.
But Davis’ proposal just to form a committee was voted down 4-2 (with the board’s four Republicans all voting against), and came just a few days after board chairman David Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, adamantly said the senior exemption isn’t being taken away.
Davis, one of three Democrats on the Cobb school board, reiterated after the retreat that in Forsyth, “a Republican school board asked a Republican delegation to put a senior tax change up for a vote, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved it, and then the county’s voters approved it. Imagine that.”
She also drew up a map (bigger version on her website) showing the various school senior tax exemptions in metro Atlanta school systems.
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The last week of the 2018-19 year for the Cobb County School District is coming up, with graduations a little more than a week away.
Here are the dates, times and venues for commencement exercises for the six high schools in East Cobb:
Tuesday, May 21
Kell, 3:30 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Wednesday, May 22
Wheeler, 6:30 p.m., Wheeler Gymnasium
Thursday, May 23
Lassiter, 2:30 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Friday, May 24
Walton, 10 a.m., KSU Convocation Center
Pope, 7 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Saturday, May 25
Sprayberry, 7 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
There are more details here about each school’s event, including directions and parking, as well as a link to watch via the web and order DVDs of the ceremonies.
They’ll be among 8,000 high school seniors in the Cobb district getting their diplomas.
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Of the 229 Cobb school retirees honored by the Cobb County School District on Thursday, some of the longest-serving teachers and staff have been at East Cobb schools. They include the following, with their total years of service to the district:
Lassiter High School food services manager Jeannie Ledbetter, 39 years;
Deborah Poss
Lassiter High School teacher Donald Slater, 38 years;
Walton High School custodian Lawrence Moon, 36 years;
Lassiter High School teacher Deborah Poss, 35 years;
East Side Elementary School teacher Debra Denise Clackum, 35 years.
“It is the greatest part-time job with benefits that you could ever have. You get summers off. You get to enjoy life,” Ledbetter said.
The luncheon took place at Roswell Street Baptist Church, and Lassiter student Will Cole took part in the festivities by singing the national anthem; he’s pictured below.
The total service logged by the retiring 229 employees comes to 5,009 years.
(Information and photos submitted by Cobb County School District)
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The National Merit Scholarship Corporation on Wednesday announced that around 2,500 high school seniors around the country were recipients of $2,500 National Merit Scholarships for 2019. Eleven of those recipients are from East Cobb schools.
Students are chosen for having “the combination of accomplishments, skills, and potential for success in rigorous college studies. The number of winners named in each state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the nation’s graduating high school seniors.”
The recipients were chosen by college admissions officers and high school counselors. The winners also indicated their probable career field (in parenthesis) on their applications:
Campbell: Alexander Eaton, who’s from East Cobb (business administration);
Lassiter: Dennis G. Goldenberg, with a probable career field in mathematics.
Walton: William Ellsworth (computer science), Vineet Gangireddy (business administration), Nicholas Hong (neurobiology), Ryan Li (computer science) and Grace Xu (undecided);
Wheeler: Fianko Buckle (computer science), Caden M. Felton (physics), Arya N. Mevada (intellectual property law) and Keshav K. Shenoy (computer science).
The field began with 15,000 applicants, and more than 7,600 students will receive scholarship money totalling $31 million by the end of the school year.
The NMSC also recently awarded corporate scholarships, which are renewable for up to four years and range from $500 to $10,000, that go to the children of company employees, live in the communities those companies serve or who plan to go into career fields the sponsor wishes to encourage.
The following East Cobb students were awarded those scholarships on April 17:
Mariah K. Butts, Wheeler (Marsh & McLennan Companies Scholarship), probable career field medicine;
Eashan Gandotra, Walton (ADP Henry Taub Memorial Scholarship), mathematics;
Tarunnum Lakdawala, Campbell (PWC Charitable Foundation Scholarship), computer science;
Zachary Yahn, Wheeler (Georgia-Pacific Foundation Scholarship), electrical engineering.
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In celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Day on Tuesday, May 7, Cobb County based Race Trac invites all Cobb County teachers to fuel up for free as a thank you for fueling the minds of children and all that you do for the community.
You are invited to stop by one of the Race Trac locations in Kennesaw or Marietta from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday to get a free $20 gift card to fuel up on Race Trac, while supplies last.
WHERE: Two participating locations: 1625 Old Hwy. 41, Kennesaw, 30152 // 3103 Roswell Rd., Marietta, 30062
WHEN: 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7, 2019
HOW TO REDEEM THE OFFER:
Choose one of the stores listed above
Park at a gas pump, and visit the marked table at the front of the store
Show your valid Cobb County school ID to receive your $20 gift card
Return to your vehicle to redeem the gift card at the gas pump station
Fuel up, on Race Trac!
Race Trac is proudly based in Atlanta and Cobb County. The company’s mission is making people’s lives simpler and more enjoyable, and Race Trac believes it is important.
to do so through giving back. Race Trac hopes that this free fuel will show you just how much you are appreciated for all that you do.
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On Thursday Gov. Brian Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan visited Wheeler High School to sign education bills and note the school’s designation as a highly rated STEM program.
One of the bills, SB 108, mandates that middle schools and high schools in Georgia teach basics of computer science.
The other notable bill is SB 48, which requires screening of every kindergartener in the state for dyslexia starting in 2024.
“Not only was the Cobb County School District an early adopter of STEM curriculum, many of our schools have led the state and the nation in STEM and STEAM certifications. As the #2 STEM program in the nation, Wheeler High School was the ideal backdrop for the signing of Senate Bill 108 and we appreciate Governor Kemp coming to Cobb to sign both of these bills.”
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Scott Sweeney of East Cobb was named this week to serve on the 15-member Georgia Board of Education by Gov. Brian Kemp.
Sweeney, who represented the Walton and Wheeler clusters from 2011-18, will fill a vacancy in the Sixth Congressional District.
“I’ve been a big supporter of Brian Kemp and his focus on education,” Sweeney said. “He asked me to serve and I agreed.”
The state board of education oversees administration of policy for the Georgia Department of Education.
Sweeney will serve a seven-year term and said “it’s going to be a learning process.”
Unlike local school boards, the state board isn’t involved in budgeting matters, such as the $3,000 pay raise the legislature approved that were a central part of Kemp’s first months in office.
Sweeney said he’s still “very passionate” about educational matters and “is happy to represent the Sixth Congressional District.”
He is a financial advisor for East Cobb-based InPrime Legal, which provides legal services to business owners and small companies.
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The U.S. News rankings of public high schools across the country include three East Cobb schools that are in the Top 25 in the state of Georgia.
All six East Cobb high schools fall within the Top 100 in the state, according to the U.S. News index, which assesses six leading indicators, including college readiness, college curriculum breadth, math and reading proficiency, math and reading performance, underserved student performance and graduation rates (read the criteria summary here).
More than 17,000 schools were examined, including STEM and performing arts magnet schools and charter schools.
Among general high schools, Walton was ranked behind only three of those kinds of schools in Georgia, coming in at No. 4 in the state.
Walton is No. 161 in the national rankings, with an overall score of 99.09 out of 100 on the U.S. News indicators (the profiles linked above break down the numbers in all of those criteria, and including data on graduation rates, test scores, enrollment figures, subject proficiency and more).
Lassiter was 10th in Georgia and No. 324 nationally, with an overall score of 98.12. Pope is No. 25 in Georgia and No. 747 in the country, and like Walton and Lassiter has a majority of its students participating in Advanced Placement classes.
Wheeler is No. 55 in Georgia, while Kell is No. 84 and Sprayberry is No. 87. All have student enrollments that are minority-majority or are close to that designation, and graduation rates in the 80s.
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David Chastain said he’s heard from some seniors who don’t mind paying school taxes, “but that’s not the majority.” (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
After two of his colleagues have been raising the idea of at least discussing possible changes to the county’s longstanding senior property tax exemption, Cobb school board chairman David Chastain insists it’s not going anywhere.
At a Tuesday breakfast meeting of the East Cobb Business Association, Chastain said there’s not the political support from the county’s legislative delegation to do away with the exemption, which applies to homeowners aged 62 and older.
“We’re not taking away the senior exemption,” said Chastain, a Wheeler High School graduate who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters on the seven-member board.
“Some people have been talking about it in public, but it’s part of our reality.”
As the Cobb board begins its budget deliberations, it’s likely to become a topic of conversation again. Last week Superintendent Chris Ragsdale proposed a fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.17 billion that includes substantial raises for most Cobb County School District employees.
The district estimates that the exemption amounts to more than $100 million a year. That’s prompted some calls to at least revisit the issue, as newly elected board members Charisse Davis (who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters) and Jaha Howard have desired.
Other school districts have various forms of senior exemptions, including means-testing. Cobb is a rarity in that it has no conditions beyond age.
Chastain said he prefers making changes to Cobb’s contribution to what’s called the state “Fair Share” education formula.
Cobb taxes property owners at 18.9 mills, which is roughly 60 percent of a typical homeowner’s bill. Of that 18.9 mills, Cobb has to send 5 mills to the state. For the current 2019 fiscal year, that’s $155 million.
Chastain said he hasn’t worked out how that Fair Share calculation might be changed, and there hasn’t been a discussion on the school board about it, but that’s a more realistic approach to recouping lost revenues than the senior exemption.
“The way we do it in Cobb is different from some other counties,” Chastain told East Cobb News after the breakfast meeting. “In order to make all those changes [to the exemption], I don’t see it happening. I think it’s more reasonable to address the Fair Share formula.”
He said he hears occasionally from seniors who say they don’t mind paying school taxes, “but that’s not the majority. . . I don’t see the board doing anything to ask our local legislative delegation.”
While Cobb doesn’t have an income qualification for receiving the exemption, Chastain said unforseen realities, such as the rising cost of medical care, have also become factors.
“Those seniors are trying to figure out how to pay for health care, and that exemption is worth something” to them, he said.
‘Sustainable’ budget projections
As for for the budget proposal, Chastain said he’s “happy” with the proposed pay raises, which Ragsdale said were enabled in large part by Gov. Brian Kemp’s $3,000 increases for teachers that were approved by the Georgia legislature.
“That allows us to do this,” Chastain said. “Right now, we have a good economy. From what we’ve been told, this is sustainable.”
The raises also are designed to attract quality teachers from elsewhere.
“We want to make sure we have a system that’s full of good teachers but you’ve got to be able to hire people, you’ve got to get them into the system,” Chastain said. “In order to address our personnel needs, we’ve got to make sure we’re bringing in the best.”
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As we noted last week, the Cobb Board of Education approved the first batch of principal hirings and reassignments for the 2019-20 school year, along with some major front office contract renewals. What follows are some of the first assistant principal reassignments involving East Cobb schools; all start their new duties on July 10:
Sanda Alford, from Dickerson Middle School to Pitner Elementary School;
Dr. Angela Bare, from Lassiter High School to Hightower Trail Middle School from Assistant Principal;
Matthew Bradford, from South Cobb High School to Wheeler High School;
William Dryden, from Brumby Elementary School to Smyrna Elementary School;
Rebecca Hintz, from Kincaid Elementary School to Mountain View Elementary School;
Dwan Jones, from Birney Elementary School to Eastvalley Elementary School;
Troy Jones, from Wheeler High School to Kell High School;
Victoria Kogan, from Eastvalley Elementary School to Mountain View Elementary School;
Victoria Kogan
Rashida Lee-Walker, from academic coach to assistant principal at Powers Ferry Elementary School;
Lindsey McGovern, from Brumby Elementary School to Shallowford Falls Elementary School;
Joan Myler, from Hightower Trail Middle School to Dickerson Middle School;
Kahliah Rachel, from Hendricks Elementary School to Sedalia Park Elementary School;
Wendy Rice, from Nicholson Elementary School to Brumby Elementary School;
Jill Spiva, from Shallowford Falls Elementary School to Davis Elementary School;
Dr. Whitney Spooner, from Mountain View Elementary School to Sope Creek Elementary School;
Dr.Susan Stoddard, from Kell High School to Kennesaw Mountain High School;
Jason Traster, from Pitner Elementary School to Brumby Elementary School;
Cheri Vaniman, from Sope Creek Elementary School to Nicholson Elementary School.
Retirements
Gary Jackson, Assistant Principal, Dodgen Middle School, effective Aug. 1.
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Four students from Walton High School are among the 621 semifinalists chosen nationally for the United States Presidential Scholars program, which ultimately goes to around 160 accomplished high school seniors each year.
The Walton students are the only ones from Cobb County, and are among 19 from the state of Georgia:
William Ellsworth
Vineet Dev Gangireddy
Albert Ting
Jayson Ni Wu
The program was started in 1964. The finalists will be chosen in May, and here’s more about how the process works:
Students have the opportunity to become U.S. Presidential Scholars based on three paths of accomplishment. The majority of the Scholars are selected on the basis of broad academic achievement. Approximately twenty students are selected on the basis of their academic and artistic scholarship in the visual arts, the performing arts, or creative writing.
Each year over 4,500 candidates are identified for the component of the program that focuses on academic achievement and based on having scored exceptionally well on the SAT or the ACT. Eligible students are U.S. citizens and legal permanent U.S. residents graduating or receiving a diploma between January and August of the current program year, who have taken the SAT or ACT Assessment on or before the preceding October.
Students meeting these requirements are automatically considered for participation. lnitial inclusion in the pool of eligible candidates is determined by the information (e.9. graduation year) provided by the student on his/her SAT or ACT test registration. Also, each Chief State School Officer (CSSO) may nominate ten male and ten female candidates based on their outstanding scholarship, residing in the CSSO’s jurisdiction. Additionally, the program is partnering with several recognition organizations that will each nominate up to 40 candidates from their individual programs.
Candidacy materials are mailed to students for participation in the program. Application is by invitation only; students do not apply individually to the program, nor do their schools nominate them.
Students are nominated through their Chief State School Officer. Each CSSO can nominate up to five candidates who meet the U.S. Presidential Scholars candidacy requirements. Candidacy materials are mailed to the selected students, and they are invited to apply to the program.
To confirm their interest and assist in the selection process, all candidates complete and submit candidacy materials for review, including essays, self-assessments, secondary school reports and transcripts. A review committee of qualified individuals experienced in secondary and post-secondary education evaluates candidates on their academic achievement, personal characteristics, leadership and service activities, and the quality and content of their essay.
All scholars are honored for their accomplishments during the National Recognition Program, held in June in Washington, D.C. During this trip, U.S. Presidential Scholars are guests of the US Department of Education and the Commission and enjoy an expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with government officials, educators and other accomplished people. To commemorate their achievement, the Scholars are awarded the Presidential Scholars Medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House.
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Updating a story from a couple weeks ago, following a pedestrian accident in front of Wheeler High School in March that seriously injured two students: the crosswalk improvement project was approved Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Cobb DOT and the Cobb County School District are teaming up to finance the safety changes. Here’s a summary of what’s going to happen; the cost is $22,450, with the school district paying $9,758 for two rectangular rapid flashing signs within a raised median (similar to what’s on Lower Roswell Road at the Sewell Mill Library).
The other work includes creating a single crosswalk, closing off the parking lot at the former East Cobb Middle School from Holt Road access, improved street lighting and updated signs alerting drivers as they approach the crosswalk.
The students who were injured were struck as it was getting dark by a driver who was later cited, but not charged, by Cobb Police.
The crosswalk will be relocated to the intersection of Holt Road and Club Way, close to the Wheeler gym entrance, and combined with an existing crosswalk.
The county says the contractors will meet on May 1 to map out a construction schedule following the end of the school year. Wheeler holds its graduation at the gym on May 22.
The crosswalk area could be redone later, after Eastvalley Elementary School is relocated to the former ECMS site.
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Four public schools in East Cobb will have new principals for the next school year.
The first wave of principal moves for the 2019-20 school year were announced Wednesday by the Cobb Board of Education, after it came out of an executive session.
Peter Giles
Two of the six East Cobb high schools have new new leadership. Peter Giles will move over from Wheeler High School to Kell High School, while the new principal at Wheeler will be Paul Gillihan, who has been the principal at Griffin Middle School.
Kell principal Andy Bristow has been appointed the new principal at Durham Middle School.
The new principal at Dodgen High School will be Patricia Alford, who’s been the principal at Durham. Loralee Hill moves from Dodgen to Griffin Middle School.
Patricia Alford
At the elementary school level, Timber Ridge will be led by a familiar face in August. Shannon McGill, a former assistant principal there and at Powers Ferry Elementary School, is returning after serving as principal at Vaughan Elementary School. She succeeds Jeff Castle, who has resigned.
The new appointments will be effective July 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
The Cobb County School District also announced that key members of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s cabinet have been reappointed, including chief of staff Kevin Daniel, deputy superintendent John Adams, chief financial officer Brad Johnson, chief leadership officer Sherri Hill, chief academic officer Jennifer Lawson, chief strategy and accountability officer John Floresta and several assistant superintendents.
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All Cobb County School District employees will get raises ranging between 8 and 12.6 percent in the fiscal year 2020 budget presented to school board members and the public on Wednesday.
Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said it’s the biggest raise in at least 25 years and may be the biggest ever for Georgia’s second-largest school district, with 112,000 students.
“We have truly maximized the dollars so we can do this,” he told board members at a Wednesday afternoon work session. The board was expected to tentatively approve the $1.17 billion budget propopsal, with final approval expected May 16.
The raises are across-the-board, and apply to all non-temporary employees, from teachers to administrators, and include custodians, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, substitute teachers, social workers and counselors.
Ragsdale said the size and scope of the raises were enabled by the Georgia legislature’s approval of $3,000 pay raises for teachers.
The Cobb budget includes “step” increases for eligible employees and adds school nurses to the “step” ranks for the first time. Teacher allotments will increase by 90, and district public safety employees also will get a “competitive salary adjustment” in the budget, which maintains a property tax rate of 18.9 mills.
According to Brad Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer, the raises will account for $74 million in expenses. The additional teacher allotments, adjustments for public safety, school nurse “step” increases, a change in how bus drivers are compensated and 7.5 new custodial positions will cost another $9.6 million.
A total of $81 million in increased revenues, including $43 million in state Quality Basic Education funding as well as $30 million in additional property taxes due to an estimated 5.5 percent growth in the Cobb tax digest, has been worked into the budget proposal.
The proposed budget also calls for spending $18.3 million in reserves.
“I’m very pleased with the raise and the respect and consideration it shows for all employees,” said Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators, which represents teachers and non-administrative employees. “I’m super ecstatic we got step raises for nurses. We can offer them an incentive to stay.”
Ragsdale said those teachers on the higher end of the proposed raises will be newer teachers, in large part to incentivize retention.
Deputy superintendent John Adams said Cobb has the highest retention rate of the six biggest school districts in Georgia and has the lowest rate of teachers leaving for other districts.
But Cobb is behind other districts in metro Atlanta in starting teacher pay, which is around $43,000 a year.
Last year most Cobb school employees received a 2.6-percent raise and a 1.1 percent bonus. The former became available only after the state ended education austerity cuts.
There will be no bonuses in this Cobb budget, Ragsdale said, because he wanted the additional pay for employees, especially teachers, to add to their retirement system calculations.
“There are a lot of teachers watching this meeting now who are a lot happier than they were this morning,” said school board member David Banks of East Cobb.
The full budget details will be posted soon on the CCSD’s budget page. Another public hearing will take place at 6:30 p.m. on May 16, right before the board is scheduled to vote on final budget adoption.
The new budget will take effect on July 1, when the district’s fiscal year begins.
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Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale will publicly present his proposed fiscal year 2020 budget of $1.3 billion to the board of education Wednesday.
The board has a work session scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Cobb County School District main office at 514 Glover Street in Marietta.
The board also will take up more budget discussions at its monthly meeting that starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The first of several public forums on the budget will take place right before that, at 6:30 p.m.
Tentative approval of the budget is required now for the district to advertise it and hold additional public hearings required by law. Final approval is slated for May 16; the district’s fiscal year runs July 1-June 30.
The full budget proposal is expected to detail Ragsdale’s previously stated priorities of employee pay raises and increased teacher allotments.
Georgia teachers will be getting a $3,000 raise from the state, but Ragsdale didn’t offer specifics last month because the district was waiting for legislative funding and the county tax digest to be finalized.
For the FY 2019 budget of $1.2 billion most district employees got a 2.6 percent raise to go with 1.1-percent bonuses after the state ended austerity cuts.
At the board’s Wednesday night meeting, several East Cobb athletes will be recognized, including Kell state wrestling champion Andrew Parlato and Walton state swimming relay champions Elizabeth Isakson, Anna Heisterberg, Abby Belinski and Jasmin Hoffman.
Lynn Hamblett of Murdock Elementary School will be recognized as the recipient of a lifetime services award from the Georgia Association of Gifted Children, and STEM and STEAM certifications will be presented to McCleskey and Simpson middle schools, respectively.
The board also is expected to take action on several high-level personnel openings. One was created following the resignation of Jeffrey Castle, the principal at Timber Ridge Elementary School the last three years.
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Demonstrating their literary mastery, the Walton High School Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl team recently claimed the title of State Champions.
Walton students competed against Loganville High School student in what was the team’s first appearance at the state reading bowl event in Athens, Georgia.
The tournament was held during the annual University of Georgia Children’s Literature Conference. Walton’s Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Team was formed in 2011, but they didn’t start competing until 2012.
Helen Ruffin, a library media specialist at Sky Haven Elementary School in DeKalb County, created the Reading Bowl in 1986. Her vision was to have teams, comprised of students from different schools, compete to test their knowledge of the selected books.
In 2000, after Ruffin’s retirement, several library media specialists formed the DeKalb County Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl. Other school districts in Georgia heard about this unique reading initiative, and soon the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl opened to students in fourth grade through 12th grade. The winning teams from the Divisional Bowls meet at the Annual Conference on Children’s Literature in March for the State Championship of the Georgia Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.
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On Thursday, April 18, the 9th District PTA surprised the Cobb County School District and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale with a “Lifetime Achievement Award.”
The surprise award recognized the Cobb County School District Superintendent for his long tenure of service and the important contributions he’s made to education. The 9th District recognized the broad impact Superintendent Ragsdale has made on over 500,000 students in the Atlanta-metro area since first being named interim Superintendent in 2014.
The surprise announcement was made during the District 9 Spring Conference, where PTA representatives from across the District and surrounding districts had gathered to honor Superintendent Ragsdale and to elect new officers. The 9th District PTA represents the schools in Cobb, Paulding, Douglas, Polk, Carroll, and Haralson counties.
Superintendent Ragsdale’s long career of public service began in the Technology department of Paulding County Schools where he served for over 18 years in various leadership roles. He has served first as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Superintendent in the Cobb County School District for the last decade and is one of the longest tenured superintendents in the metropolitan area.
Under his leadership, the District has reached record highs in graduation rates and various accountability measures, achieved and maintained a AAA credit rating, and has consistently recruited and retained the very best teachers in the state. The steady focus of the Superintendent since taking office has been, and continues to be, one team, with one goal, student success.
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We posted recently about an upcoming dinner theater performance of “Annie” by Wheeler High School students to benefit the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative food pantry.
“Annie” also will be performed four other times toward the end of the month, as noted below.
We’ve had requests to round up school theater productions, and while most have wrapped up their 2018-19 seasons, there are still some shows to take in, including this weekend at Lassiter High School.
Wheeler Theatre
“Annie”
April 26 & 27, 7 p.m.
April 27 & 28, 2 p.m.
Wheeler Performing Arts Center
Tickets: $7, $10, $15 (Order Here)
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The Cobb County School District is hiring, and educators are invited to attend the district’s two upcoming job fairs on March 26 and March 28. The hiring events are open to anyone interested in certified teaching positions. Thousands are expected to attend.
The job fairs put teachers face-to-face with school administrators in a relaxed and personal setting and give candidates the opportunity to talk directly about teaching and learning in a diverse and dynamic school district.
“Our job fairs help us hire the very best so we can strengthen our team of talented educators who continue to make Cobb the best place to teach, lead, and learn,” said Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale. “This year, we were once again the first metro district to issue teaching contracts, which has allowed us to identify areas of need and begin looking for tomorrow’s top teachers to support our vision of One Team, One Goal: Student Success.”
Middle and High Schools Job Fair:
Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Time:
5-6 p.m. (Current CCSD Employees Only with ID)
6-9 p.m. (Open to All)
Location: Kennesaw Mountain High School: 1898 Kennesaw Due West Rd NW, Kennesaw, GA 30152
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The recipients were chosen by college admissions officers and high school counselors. The winners also indicated their probable career field (in parenthesis) on their applications:
